AT&T announced its new Digital Life platform yesterday, but don’t expect it to be anything like the home automation services offered by Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable, Rogers and others.

In an interview with CE Pro, Kevin Peterson, senior vice president, Digital Life for AT&T Mobility, reiterated what yesterday’s press release indicated – that Digital Life is a wholesale offering for International service providers, not a branded home-control and remote management system sold to consumers.

We caught up with Peterson just as he was leaving for Barcelona, home of the Mobile World Congress 2012, where AT&T is co-sponsoring the GSMA Connected House. He wanted to reserve the details of Digital Life for that event, but we did eke out a few tidbits from the interview.

First, Digital Life builds upon technology from Xanboo, which AT&T acquired in 2010. Founded in 1999, Xanboo was one of the original cloud-based (SaaS) home automation solutions. AT&T had offered a Xanboo-powered service to its customers in 2006, but that program was short-lived. It featured a basic kit for monitoring cameras and security sensors for $9.95/month.

Unlike Verizon, the cable providers are integrating monitored home security into their automation systems, and charging a premium for the service ($34 to $50+).

Based on its promo video (below), AT&T’s solution appears to be more like Verizon’s, i.e., it does not seem to revolve around a monitored home security system. That was the original model of Xanboo, although Xanboo later went on to integrate with professionally monitored security systems from DSC, DMP and Honeywell.

We suspect AT&T will roll out a retail offering for U.S. consumers, integrating it with the company's U-verse bundles, just as Verizon is doing with FiOS.

Who’s Going to Barcelona?

More details should be available during the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2012). Who’s going? Please take pictures and videos for us to share.

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About the Author

Julie Jacobson, Co-Founder, EH Publishing / Editor-at-large, CE Pro

Julie Jacobson, recipient of the 2014 CEA TechHome Leadership Award, is co-founder of EH Publishing, producer of CE Pro, Electronic House, Commercial Integrator, Security Sales and other leading technology publications. She currently spends most of her time writing for CE Pro in the areas of home automation, security, networked A/V and the business of home systems integration. Julie majored in Economics at the University of Michigan, spent a year abroad at Cambridge University, earned an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and has never taken a journalism class in her life. She's a washed-up Ultimate Frisbee player currently residing in Carlsbad, Calif. Follow her on Twitter @juliejacobson. [More by Julie Jacobson]

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